Dame Barbara Windsor’s husband Scott Mitchell has revealed he feared spreading coronavirus to the vulnerable thespian amid her Alzheimer’s battle.
During ITV’s Living with Dementia with the EastEnders star’s former on-screen son Ross Kemp on Wednesday, the actor, 57, said he experienced ‘every other symptom’ minus the cough at the start of the lockdown as he detailed her deteriorating health issue.
Viewers were left in ‘floods of tears’ as they hailed the 82-year-old’s partner of over two decades ‘lovely’ for aiding her through her dementia as she prepares to move to a care home.
‘It was my biggest fear’: Dame Barbara Windsor’s husband Scott Mitchell has revealed he feared spreading coronavirus to the thespian amid her Alzheimer’s battle (pictured in 2017)
The former recruitment consultant told Barbara’s ex co-star: ‘So I don’t know what it was, but I had every other symptom.
‘My biggest fear was that I was going to give it to Barbara.’
‘When COVID-19 started, the other health issues like cancer didn’t send us a note to say they’re giving us a break.’
Scott also revealed he has witnessed the Carry On icon struggling to speak, and becomes disheartened when he sees her ‘give up’.
Worried: During Ross Kemp’s ITV Special Living with Dementia aired on Wednesday, the actor, 57, said he experienced ‘every other symptom’ minus a cough at the start of the lockdown
Long-time pal: Actor-turned-presenter Ross, 55, has been friends with the couple for over 25 years (pictured in 2009)
Asked by actor-turned-investigative journalist Ross, 55, how Barbara’s Alzheimer’s has progressed since he last visited in February, his heartbroken friend said: ‘I have seen a real progression the things that started happening with her is her speech, she can’t find the words.
‘And you just see that frustration building up within her, and what I hate is that she just gives up, she just looks at me and goes.’
Heartbreaking: Viewers were left in tears as they praised the 82-year-old’s partner for aiding her through her dementia as she prepares to move to a care home (pictured in 2017)
Scott also emotionally revealed the condition is also beginning to affect the award-winning star’s mobility, as she suffers from falls after getting up in the night.
He added: ‘The other thing is she’s started to have falls more regularly, what will happen is she will get up two or three times in the night to go to bathroom, but her legs will give way and I find her on the floor.’
Barbara’s third husband went onto admit that in recent months he’s been told that the Shoreditch-born actress will soon have to move into a care home, as he can no longer provide the round-the-clock care she needs.
Upsetting: It comes after Scott emotionally revealed that wife Barbara may have to move into a care home soon as her Alzheimer’s continues to progress
Challenging: In May, it was reported that Scott was struggling with COVID-19 lockdown because Barbara can’t understand why nobody is visiting her
He also said he was told the upsetting development by a specialist after Barbara’s Alzheimer’s battle ‘worryingly progressed’.
The campaigner shared: ‘It’s the thing I’ve always feared. He’s basically telling me I need to prepare myself that at some point it may not be sustainable to give her the kind of care she needs at the house.
‘I’ve had some fairly dark moments since he said that because there’s a part of me that knows that most likely is the truth and that’s what needs to happen. There’s another part of me which can’t imagine letting her go.
‘I can’t imagine leaving that lady when she talks to me the way she does and putting her somewhere and her thinking, “Why has he done this to me?”‘
In May, it was reported that Scott was struggling with the lockdown because Barbara couldn’t understand why nobody was visiting her.
The TV and theatre star diagnosed with the degenerative condition in 2014 and is now being cared for round-the-clock by her husband Scott.
Scott married Barbara in 2000 and the star is accustomed to close friends and family constantly checking in on her.
Barbara, who is best known for her role as Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders and for starring in nine Carry On films, first revealed she was suffering from the disease, for which there is currently no cure, in May 2018, after being diagnosed in 2014.
Scott said her condition worsened at the beginning of the year, and that the legendary actress often gets confused as to where she is.
Scott said the situation was ‘heartbreaking’, adding that she forgets short-term things like if she’s had dinner, but remembers things about her childhood and early career.
Dame Barbara has massively raised awareness of the condition by sharing her own diagnosis and appearing in a Dementia Revolution appeal video in 2018.
Watch Scott’s emotional interview on Ross Kemp: Living with Dementia, which will air tonight at 7:30pm on ITV.